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Are your teeth less than straight? Is their appearance affecting your smile? You might be suitable for teeth braces, and nowadays, there are several options available, and your choice is no longer limited to metal braces you might remember during childhood.

Why Have Braces?

In an ideal world, after you lose your milk or baby teeth, your adult teeth will come through beautifully aligned and perfectly straight. Unfortunately, the reality can be very different. Teeth can come through crooked because of problems with overcrowding, where there isn’t enough room in your jaws to accommodate all your teeth comfortably. Your jaws might not be quite the right shape or size to give you a perfect bite. Childhood habits like thumb or finger sucking, tongue thrusting or mouth breathing can all affect the development of your teeth and jaws. Losing your baby teeth too soon to an accident or decay can have a similar effect.

Straightening your teeth with braces will improve their alignment and correct bite problems. In addition to improving your smile, braces can also help to protect your oral health as straighter teeth are easier to keep clean, so your risk of tooth decay and gum disease can reduce. They will also wear more evenly, as your teeth will bite together properly.

When to See a Dentist for Braces?

If you have a child, we can closely monitor their teeth and jaws’ growth and development. Sometimes it is useful for a child to see an orthodontist around age seven as they begin to get their permanent teeth. At this age, early orthodontic treatment can help correct problems caused by thumb or finger sucking or tongue thrusting and can help guide the growth of their developing teeth and jaws. It may mean your child needs less or no orthodontist treatment when they get older.

Otherwise, the most common age to see people wearing braces is during their teens, but it’s becoming far more common to see adults wearing them. It’s never too late to have orthodontic treatment provided your teeth are generally strong and healthy.

Different Types of Braces

Traditional metal braces are still widely used, especially for children; they provide predictable results and are cost-effective. However, less visible braces are becoming far more popular. These include ceramic braces that have clear or tooth-coloured brackets fixed onto teeth and lingual braces that fit inside teeth and are nearly invisible. Removable braces consisting of clear plastic aligners are very popular. They can provide excellent results and are easy to use, but they need good compliance.

What Is the Cost of Braces?

The cost can vary considerably depending on the problems requiring correction and your treatment preference. As a rough guide, metal braces cost anywhere from $2000 upwards. Ceramic braces typically cost $5000 upwards. The cost of lingual braces tends to be higher as the brace brackets are made individually to fit inside your mouth. These can cost up to $9000. The cost of removable invisible braces like Invisalign can range from $6000 upwards, but if you only require minor corrections, treatment is shorter, and the costs may start from $4500 upwards.

The best way to get a better estimate is to come and see us and discover more about all the treatment options available.

A decent-quality toothbrush should last around three months, and if the bristles are beginning to look splayed or frayed, it’s time to retire it and replace it with a shiny new toothbrush. However, instead of dumping the toothbrush in the bin, why not give it a new lease of life?

Why Bother to Re-Purpose an Old Toothbrush?

The thought of re-purposing an old toothbrush might seem strange, but it is environmentally friendly. It helps to keep your toothbrush out of the landfill, reducing the amount of wasted plastic. Also, reusing your toothbrush for a different purpose can help reduce your overall carbon footprint.

Getting Your Toothbrush Ready to Be Reused

Before you can reuse your toothbrush, you need to clean it thoroughly, and the best way to do this is to boil it in water for a few minutes or pop it in the dishwasher the next time you run a cycle. Now your brush is ready for use once again.

1. Cleaning Your Bathroom

Your toothbrush is designed to reach right to the back of your mouth, making it perfect for cleaning hard-to-reach areas in your house. It’s great for cleaning the bathroom, especially around the taps and tiles and in all those nooks and crannies.

2. Cleaning Kitchen Appliances

You can use a toothbrush in the kitchen to clean appliances thoroughly. It can also receive a new lease of life for cleaning your computer keyboard.

3. As a Substitute Paintbrush for Creative Projects

A toothbrush makes a great substitute for a paintbrush, especially if you like to do art projects with your kid. The toothbrush bristles can create new and interesting effects that would otherwise be hard to achieve. It’s also a nice way to teach your child about the importance of trying to re-purpose objects rather than throwing them away.

4. As a Beauty Tool

An old toothbrush can be excellent for taming messy brows. It is also a good device to tame frizzy hair and flyaway hairs. Just spray a little hairspray onto the bristles and use the toothbrush to comb those annoying little hairs sticking up, putting them into their proper places, and giving you a smoother and more polished appearance.

Storing Your Re-purposed Toothbrush

When you re-purpose your toothbrush, store it somewhere different from your bathroom. So put it with your art projects or with your cleaning supplies for your bathroom or kitchen to make sure it doesn’t get mixed up with your brand-new toothbrush.

Once you begin to reuse old toothbrushes, you may find all sorts of other ideas about re-purposing them. It can also be a great way to ensure you remember to replace your toothbrush every three months, just in time to use it for a brand-new project you have in mind.

Finally, if you ever want more advice on buying the best toothbrush, please just ask us. Choosing a toothbrush with soft bristles that won’t damage your teeth or gums yet still clean your teeth effectively is important.

If you stand in front of the mirror and open your mouth wide enough to look at your throat, you will see a small piece of tissue that looks a bit like a pendulum hanging right at the back. It is worth taking a look, especially if you haven’t noticed it before, as this little piece of tissue is called a uvula, a Latin word that translates to little grape. The uvula is attached to the soft palate right at the back of your mouth and is made from muscle and flexible connective tissues, ensuring it remains hanging right at the back, just above your tongue. The size and shape of a uvula can vary tremendously, and it comes in many different colours. Generally, a uvula is pink but can also appear red, brown or even purple. What you might not know is that only humans have a uvula. Other animals might have similar structures, but nothing is quite the same.

What Is the Purpose of a Uvula?

There has been a lot of debate about the exact purpose of a uvula, and experts rarely agree upon it. However, it is thought that the uvula helps block the passageway to your nasal cavity whenever you swallow, preventing food from going up your nose! As you swallow, the uvula moves backwards. It is also thought that the uvula helps speech. If you snore or live with someone who snores, then part of this noise is caused by the uvula vibrating. If you have an overactive gag response, you might be able to blame it on your uvula. Touching the uvula can induce vomiting or make you gag, and it could be a safety feature preventing food from going down the wrong way to prevent you from choking.

However, one of the main purposes of a uvula seems to be to produce saliva, helping to moisten your mouth and throat. An adequate flow of saliva is extremely important for oral health as it helps keep your mouth clean, moist and comfortable. As you chew food, it is moistened by saliva so you can form the food into a bolus and swallow it more easily. Saliva contains digestive enzymes, so the process of digestion actually begins in your mouth and ensures your body can extract maximum nutrition from your food more effectively.

Can a Uvula Develop Problems?

Generally, your uvula will just hang at the back of your throat without any problem, but it can sometimes become inflamed or swollen, perhaps because of seasonal allergies. In this case, taking antihistamines can help, or you might find it useful to drink more water or use a humidifier. Other times a uvula becomes swollen because of a bacterial infection, and you might need antibiotics.

Very rarely, a uvula may need to be removed, perhaps if the person has severe sleep apnoea. You can function perfectly well without a uvula, although it may initially take a little time to get used to swallowing or speaking.

You will often hear the terms plaque and tartar used interchangeably, so it is easy to think they are the same. While similar, there are some important differences, and understanding these can help you manage your oral health more effectively.

Everyone has dental plaque and, to some extent, tartar because everyone needs to eat! When you chew food, it is mixed with saliva, which helps the food to break down so your body can absorb the nutrition more easily. However, your mouth is host to over 500 different species of bacteria that also like to eat, and these feast off the leftovers whenever you have a meal.

Eating Produces Plaque

These bacteria are found in dental plaque, a sticky biofilm continually forming on your teeth day and night. The bacteria, saliva and food particles all combine to form dental plaque, and if it has been a while since you brushed your teeth, you can even feel this film by running your tongue over them.

The bacteria in dental plaque also produce toxins and acids that attack your tooth enamel, and gums. These are the same bacteria that can cause cavities and gum disease if their growth remains unchecked. The main reason why it’s important to brush and floss your teeth regularly is to get rid of dental plaque and interrupt bacterial growth. When you don’t brush and floss your teeth thoroughly, any plaque that remains on your teeth soon hardens into tartar.

What Happens When Tartar Develops Over Teeth?

If plaque remains on your teeth, it begins to harden into tartar between one and three days afterwards. Tartar, also called calculus, is a hard substance that strongly bonds to your tooth enamel. It is a crusty substance that can easily become stained, so you may notice a yellow or brown buildup around your gum margins, where your teeth meet your gums.

You cannot remove tartar or calculus by brushing or flossing your teeth, as it must be removed professionally during your dental cleanings when you visit our practice. Unfortunately, so long as tartar remains on your teeth, the bacteria within it continue to produce toxins and acids that infect and inflame your gums.

The risk of developing calculus is greater if you smoke or have a dry mouth, where you cannot produce enough saliva. Even people who clean their teeth thoroughly will have some tartar on them, which is why dental cleanings are such an important part of your preventative dental care plan.

Fighting Plaque and Tartar Buildup

The easiest way to prevent excessive plaque and tartar buildup is to ensure you have an excellent oral care routine. When you brush your teeth, pay attention to cleaning each tooth surface thoroughly to remove plaque buildup. Regular daily flossing removes plaque buildup and the food debris that feed harmful bacteria trapped between your teeth. When you visit our dental practice, we can clean your teeth professionally and offer advice on how to brush and floss effectively.

We certainly hope you are, as this is the percentage of people who floss their teeth daily. Unfortunately, we know many people ignore this essential task, but it is important if you want to have strong, healthy gums and healthy teeth.

If you don’t currently floss every day, here is why it is important and some easy tips on how to make it a habit.

Why Is Flossing Necessary?

Daily flossing protects your teeth and gums against a host of dental problems. When you brush your teeth, you can only clean around two-thirds of each tooth. The contact areas between your teeth account for the other third; these areas can easily trap food particles and bacteria in dental plaque. These bacteria will feast on the food particles, eventually causing tooth decay, and gum disease frequently begins in these contact areas. When you floss before or after brushing your teeth, it removes dental plaque and food particles, protecting your teeth and gums.

What Happens If I Don’t Floss?

If you fail to floss regularly, plaque quickly builds up between teeth. In just a day or two, plaque starts to harden into tartar or calculus, and this crusty substance can longer be removed by brushing and flossing your teeth. The only way to remove calculus is to have your teeth cleaned professionally at our dental practice.

The bacteria in calculus will continue to feast on the leftover food and produce toxins that infect and inflame your gums, as well as acid that weakens your tooth enamel, so your risk of developing gum disease or cavities increases further. The presence of calculus makes it easier for more plaque to stick to your teeth.

While cavities are a problem, we are particularly concerned about gum disease as the inflammation in your gums can gradually destroy them and result in a loss of jawbone, so ultimately your teeth become loose and will either fall out or need to be extracted. Also, gum disease is linked to serious health problems, including cardiovascular disease, dementia, diabetes and respiratory problems.

How to Get into the Habit of Flossing Daily

If you keep forgetting to floss, then place a reminder on your phone to alert you, or even a sticky note on your bathroom mirror can be sufficient to make you reach for the dental floss. Another trick is to try listening to a podcast or music while you brush and floss; the time will fly by. Initially, you could also try rewarding yourself when you remember to floss daily, such as having a specialty coffee or indulging in a Netflix binge.

Lastly, if you find flossing difficult, please talk to us. We can demonstrate easy ways to floss effectively or talk about other alternatives, such as a water flosser, interdental brushes, or pre-threaded flossers.

Once you get the flossing habit, skipping it will soon feel wrong, especially when your reward is stronger, healthier gums and a nice clean smile.

New Year is a time for making changes. Most New Year resolutions are centred on improving your health or personal growth and development. Instead, why not resolve to be different this year and resolve to improve oral health? You will help to protect your overall health and your wallet, and you’ll benefit from a healthy, confident smile.

Overhaul Your Daily Routine

A proper daily dental care routine is easier than you might imagine, and it doesn’t take long for something that feels like a chore to become a well-established habit. Flossing is a good example as many people will avoid this task, but when you perform it regularly, you will soon get to enjoy the sensation of having a cleaner and fresher mouth and gums that look and feel in the pink of health, not to mention praise from our dental team on caring for your teeth and gums so well.

Your daily dental care routine should include the following:

• Twice daily brushing using a soft-bristled toothbrush to avoid harming your teeth and gums.
• Fluoridated toothpaste to help protect against tooth decay. After brushing, spit, but don’t rinse, so a thin coating of toothpaste will remain on your teeth, offering a little extra protection.
• Daily flossing ensures you clean thoroughly between each tooth. If you can’t get on with flossing, ask us for help. We can discuss other tools to try, like interdental brushes, soft picks or an electrical flossing device and can guarantee there will be something you will find easy to use and which will quickly become second nature.

If you wish to use mouthwash, pick an alcohol-free brand that won’t dry out your mouth and preferably contains fluoride or is antimicrobial.

Choose Tooth-Friendly Foods

Your diet and when you eat certain foods can impact your oral health. When you eat foods that feed harmful bacteria, allowing them to thrive, your risk of dental disease increases. These include anything sweet or carbohydrate-rich, so these foods are best kept as part of your main meal. Avoid snacking on sugary or starchy foods between meals, and ensure you eat lots of fruits and vegetables and other nutrient-rich foods. If you are unsure, we can always review your diet and make some useful suggestions.

Quit Smoking

Quitting smoking is a popular resolution at this time of year, and if it is on your list, make this the year you finally stop for good. Tobacco stains your teeth, causes bad breath and increases your risk of gum disease and oral cancer, not to mention the detrimental effect on your general health.

Keep Up to Date with Professional Dental Care

Regular dental checkups and hygiene appointments are vital for ensuring you enjoy optimal oral health year-round. Most people need to see us twice yearly, and you only need to spend about an hour each time. It is the perfect way to prevent any dental problems from developing or worsening and will save you time and money in the longer term.

With summer just around the corner, there are plenty of reasons to smile. It’s also the perfect time to think about your dental health and how to make sure your teeth look their best. We’ve listed six easy tips below.

1. Professional Teeth Cleaning

Usually, everyone will benefit from having their teeth professionally cleaned every six months, and it’s one of the easiest things you can do to protect your oral health and ensure you can smile confidently. We carefully remove all plaque and tartar buildup during your professional dental cleaning before gently polishing your teeth. It’s a treatment that helps reduce your risk of tooth decay and gum disease while ensuring your smile looks it’s sparkling best.

2. Drink Plenty of Water

The body consists largely of water, so it is essential to remain well-hydrated. Instead of reaching for sugary juice, soda or dehydrating alcoholic beverages, ensure you have a refillable bottle of water nearby so you can drink water regularly throughout the day. Water helps ensure you can make plenty of saliva, and it helps rinse away leftover food particles and bacteria, helping to keep your breath fresh.

3. Eat Healthily

A healthy diet ensures your teeth, gums, and jawbone have all the nutrients they need to fight infection and disease. Make sure you avoid foods and drinks high in sugar and instead make the most of all the wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables available at this time of year.

4. Keep Up-To-Date with Your Dental Work

If you know you have a loose or crumbling filling or need a new crown, or have one or two missing teeth that could do with replacing, get in touch with our dental practice. We can create your custom treatment plan and will work closely with you to ensure you get the dental care you need to protect and preserve your smile.

5. Stick to a Routine

The summer months can get busy, and it’s easy to forget to brush and floss your teeth regularly. However, sticking to a regular daily routine will help maintain your smile and protect your oral health, ensuring you can enjoy good oral health year-round and not just during summer.

6. Have a Professional Whitening Treatment

If you are still unhappy with the appearance of your teeth after having them cleaned professionally, ask us about a professional teeth whitening treatment. It is quick, safe, easy and very affordable. Our professional strength whitening products will help lift the colour of your teeth by several shades, sometimes in as little as an hour. Opt for an in-chair whitening treatment if you can’t wait to see the results. Otherwise, ask us about a custom home whitening kit using mouth trays specially created to fit exactly over your teeth. All you need do is wear the trays for several hours or overnight for a couple of weeks to get excellent results. You can almost certainly reuse the trays later on when you need a top-up treatment.

You might have seen pictures of people on the Internet brushing their teeth with something that looks completely black and, quite frankly, rather unpleasant, and you may have wondered if it is effective. Charcoal toothpaste has become increasingly popular over the past few years and promises to give you a brighter, whiter smile when you use it instead of ordinary white toothpaste. But will it deliver its promises, and is it safe for use?

What Is Charcoal Toothpaste?

Charcoal toothpaste is very different from ordinary toothpaste and contains an activated charcoal mixture, a form of carbon. Usually, charcoal toothpaste will not contain fluoride, an important ingredient in ordinary toothpaste that helps protect your teeth against tooth decay by hardening your tooth enamel.

How Does Charcoal Toothpaste Whiten Teeth?

The charcoal in the toothpaste is quite abrasive, and any abrasive substance can remove some surface stains from your teeth by scrubbing your tooth enamel. Initially, it may seem as if charcoal toothpaste is a good idea but bear in mind that the abrasive action can wear down your tooth enamel, doing more harm than good. Also, as your tooth enamel becomes thinner, more of the natural colour of your tooth will shine through. This natural colour is almost certainly darker, so instead of your teeth looking whiter, they will gradually begin to look yellow or even grey. If you do want to whiten your teeth, ask us about whitening safely. We can use professional strength whitening products that are unavailable to the general public and gently and effectively lift deep-seated stains from your teeth without damaging them. A professional tooth whitening treatment can brighten your teeth by several shades, creating a significant and noticeable difference.

Can Using Charcoal Toothpaste Freshen My Breath?

There is no real evidence that charcoal toothpaste freshens your breath more effectively than ordinary fluoride toothpaste. Also, the charcoal paste can become stuck in between your teeth or may even discolour dental restorations. If you are concerned about fresh breath, come and see us for a dental checkup. We can carefully assess your teeth and gums to determine if you have any problems that could cause halitosis or bad breath and, if needed, can provide appropriate treatment.

Can Charcoal Toothpaste Detoxify Gums?

There is no evidence that using charcoal toothpaste will detoxify your gums. Although using it may scrub away plaque and tartar, it will not help improve your gum health. If you have noticed your gums bleed, look swollen or red or feel tender to touch, please come and see us as soon as possible. Poor gum health is often due to gum disease. This bacterial infection is easily reversible with appropriate dental care, including cleaning your teeth and gums professionally and improving your oral care routine at home.

Please ask us for practical help and advice during your next appointment if you want to know more about which toothpaste to choose. We can recommend oral health products suitable for your needs and proven effective and gentle.

Many parents look forward to seeing their baby’s first teeth appear. Knowing what to expect and what to do will help ease your child’s discomfort.

When Do Baby Teeth First Start to Appear?

Usually, a baby will show signs of teething around six months, but babies can get their first teeth as early as three months. If you or other close family members got your baby teeth early, there’s a good chance your baby will too. Chewing on toys or fingers or biting can encourage teeth to arrive sooner rather than later.

Generally, the first teeth to appear are the two teeth right at the front of the lower jaw, called the lower central incisors. These are soon followed by the upper front teeth, called upper central incisors, and the upper lateral incisors, which are the two teeth on either side. These lateral incisors usually come through between the age of 8 months to a year. Your baby can expect to get their lower lateral incisors anywhere between 10 months and 16 months.

The very last teeth to make an appearance are the molars. The exact timing can vary quite a bit, but generally, the molars in the upper jaw begin erupting between the age of 13 months and 20 months. The lower molars come through between 14 and 18 months.

How Can I Tell If My Baby Is Teething?

Various signs can indicate your baby is beginning to get their teeth. If you look at their gums, they may look as if they are bulging, red and swollen. Your baby may begin to drool more frequently, and they might have a facial rash, or their cheeks will begin to look flushed. Children who are teething will often start to chew or suck on their toys or fist. Another common sign is noticing your child is pulling their ear on the same side of their face as an erupting tooth. The discomfort caused by teething can create difficulties with feeding, and your baby might become restless during the night or cry more frequently. Some children develop diarrhoea or a fever.

You can gently examine your baby’s mouth using clean fingers and touch them carefully to see if you can feel a hard tooth growing underneath the gums. However, if you spot a blister, called a teething blister, then you shouldn’t touch it. The blister is perfectly normal and should disappear without treatment, but otherwise, come and see us for help and advice.

Relieving Teething Discomfort

Gently massaging your baby’s gums can help provide relief during teething. Otherwise, provide them with something cool to bite down on, such as a clean, damp washcloth left in the fridge for half an hour. Give your baby teething toys that have been pre-chilled in the fridge, but these should not be frozen. Offering your baby cold liquids like plain yoghurt or fruit purée can help soothe uncomfortable gums. If you feel your baby is in pain or excessive discomfort, contact your GP for help and advice.

Stores are full of Halloween paraphernalia and are already piling up stocks of sweets and other goodies for eager Trick or Treaters. While it is a fun celebration, all the sugar in those sweet treats can harm your teeth unless you have a plan.

The reason why sweets are so bad for your dental health is because of bacteria naturally present in your mouth, and these are just as excited as you are to eat sugary foods. These bacteria thrive on leftover particles in your mouth and thank you by producing a weak acid that softens your tooth enamel, contributing to your risk of cavities. However, there is no need to cancel your Halloween plans just yet as eating sweets on the day probably won’t do too much harm to your teeth, provided you follow a good oral care routine every day, all year round. Also, it can help tremendously if you choose your sweets wisely, as some are better for your teeth than others.

Chocolate

If you love your chocolate, there is some good news, as it’s probably one of the better sweets to eat on Halloween. This is because chocolate quickly melts and is more easily washed away by saliva. It’s even better news if you love dark chocolate because it is lower in sugar than milk chocolate.

Sticky Sweets

Sticky sweets might be fun to eat, but they are hard to remove from your teeth and are some of the worst around for your dental health. The longer sweets stick to your teeth, the more time those harmful bacteria can spend getting to work, producing more acid to attack your tooth enamel.

Hard Sweets

Some hard sweets seem to last forever, and the longer they last, the more your teeth are bathed in sugar. Also, some of these hard sweets can break your teeth if you happen to bite down too hard, so approach hard candies with caution.

Sour Sweets

Sour lollies may make you pucker up with pleasure, but they can be very acidic. The acidity will weaken your tooth enamel, worsening the effect of the acids already produced by bacteria and making your teeth more vulnerable to cavities.

Popcorn

Popcorn may seem relatively healthy, but some kernels, especially unpopped ones, can get stuck between your teeth. Inadvertently biting down on an unpopped kernel can crack or chip your teeth. Popcorn is especially bad if it is sticky and sugary. If you enjoy eating popcorn, make sure you have some dental floss handy afterwards.

Brush and Floss After Your Sugar Fix

It’s better to enjoy your sweet treats all at once, preferably after a main meal. Ideally, swish your mouth with water afterwards to help wash away any loose food particles. Wait at least thirty minutes before brushing your teeth, as this gives your mouth a chance to become less acidic. As the pH levels normalise, your tooth enamel will re-harden slightly, so it’s safe to brush and floss without damaging your teeth.